We have confirmed from various sources that America Online’s Fairfield Patch has fired Editor Andrew Brophy via e-mail Thursday night.  We did briefly speak to Brophy , he confirmed his termination but he would not elaborate or go into detail.  A few of our sources who did not want to be identified told me it was a conflict over content and that Brophy felt the Patch was getting too generic,

American Online’s  Patch site has changed quite a few times over the year.  Initially they were emphasizing online “hyper local” news specific to each town.  A year ago the regional editor directed Patch editors to have at least 2 videos on the site and to emphasize breaking news.   All this came to a halt after AOL purchased The Huffington Post for $315 million, apparently tying up much of the AOL’s cash flow.    Today the Patch’s intro is: “Hi there, we’re Patch, your source for local knowledge you can’t live without.”    In an internal memo titled “Platform for Growth” acquired by the website All Things D (click here to see the memo) shows big changes in store for the Patch, Huffington Post and AOL.

We did contact Michael Dinan, a regional manager now the temporary editor for the Fairfield Patch to confirm or elaborate on Brophy’s termination and he said “We can’t comment on personnel matters”.   Andrew Brophy has been a reporter at the Connecticut Post, Fairfield Minuteman and the Norwalk Hour.  He has a Bachelor of Science degree in  Journalism from Ohio University.  All of the sources agreed that Brophy is a talented writer and will quickly land on his feet.  We wish him well.